Air-heating and distributing apparatus for open fireplaces.



m. 669,912. Painted har. l2, Ism. E,l F. snowman.

AIR HEATING AND DISTRIBUTINE APPARATUS FOR OPEN FIREPLACES.

(Application ledrlay 3, 1900 (No Nudel.) 2 Sheets$heet l.

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No. 669,9l2. Patented Mar. l2, mol.

' Y E. F. cowTHEn. AIR HEATING AND DISTRIBUUNG' APPARATUS FOR OPEN FIREPLACES.

(Application Bled May 3, 1900.) V

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

Tren STATES Parar AlR .HEATlNG AND DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FOR OPEN FIREPLACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 669,912. dated March 12, 1901.

Application filed MayS, 1900. Serial No. 15,387. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, EDGAR FULTON Geow- THER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vicksburg, in the county of Warren and State of Mississippi, have invented new and useful Improvements in Air Heating and Distributing Apparat us for Open Fireplaces, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to air heating and distributing apparatus for open fireplaces, my purpose being to provide such a construction and combination of parts that a large volume of superheated air may be put in rapid circulation and distributed to a number of different. points, the apparatus by which this is accomplished being so arranged in and combined with an open fireplace as to occupy scarcely any of the available space of the fireplace or open grate and so placed and of such material as to communicate heat to the air almost as soon as the fire is started.

It is my purpose also to provide an air heater and distributer by which the air will be raised to a high temperature and discharged at the points where its heat is utilized without material loss.

It is my object also to provide such apparains with simple and novel means for irnpregnating the heated air with a suitable degree of moisture to render its inspiration pleasant and healthful, and in this connection I also provide improved means for renewing the supply of water used for this purpose.

It is my aim to provide an air-heating apparatus for open fireplaces or open grates which can be readily and quickly set therein without any special changes in construction, which will vnot cause any noticeable change in the appearance 'of an ordinary fireplace nor obstruct or crowd the same, and which will utilize the heat of the fire to the highest possible degree in quickly heating the iniiowing air toa very high point and maintaining it at a practical uniform tem perature.

My invention also comprises the useful and novel features, all of which will be fully ex` plained in the following specification and then particularly pointed out and defined in the claims at the close thereof.

For the purpose of the following description reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a fireplace or open grate equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, taken substantially in the center of the grate. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same, the chimney structure being mostly omitted. Fig. 4 is a plan View, the leftliand part of said ligure being in section. Fig. 5 is a detail section of one ofthe side boxes. Fig. (i is a front elevation showing` the several parts of the apparatus in correct relative position, but slightly' separated from each other to more clearly illustrate their construction.

The reference-numeral 1 in said drawings indicates the receiver, to which fresh pure air is supplied from any suitable source through a pipe2, part of which only is shown in the drawings. The receiver is constructed to lie beneath the grate-bars Sand somewhat behind them and is provided with a central opening 4, with which the intake connection or freshair pipe 2 communicates. Along the front of said receiver l is a trough 5, which serves a water-reservoir, its supply being renewed in the mannerhereinafter explained.

At each end or side of the fireplace is a -side box 6, which receives air from the cham- Vof three or more tubular sections S, (shown in Fig. 5,) with recessed webs 9 connecting them, the chambers in said webs opening into said tubular sections. The side boxes eX- tend from the top of the receiver, at the ends ofthe latter, nearly or quite to the top of the fireplace, their upper portions beinginclined rearward and upward, as seen in Fig. 3, until both front and rearward tubular sections unite at their tops in a coupling 10. This coupling enters the ports 12at the ends of a distributor 13, which lies at the upper part of the open fireplace, its central upf-alie 14 passing into the mouth of the smoke-flue 15, as shown in Fig. 2. From the middle of the distributer is a forwardly-projecting portion 16, forming a chamber which is part of the distributer-chambe1n rPhe lower wall of said projection is provided with tubular projections IOC nipples 19, which rise from the upperrwall ofv a central forward projection 2O on the receiver. To increase the heating-surface, a row of pipes 21 is arranged along` the back of the fireplace, their ends opening into both receiver and distributer, to which they are coupled by aconstruction similar to that used for the ends of the pipes 18. I may also use one or more pipes 22 on each side of the central rank of pipes 18. The distributer and the Lipper ends of all these pipes are concealed from view by the front 23. All these pipes have a slight inclination toward the front,and being placed against the back and center they receive the maximum heat of the grate. Being formed of thin wrought-iron, which conducts heat far more readily than cast-iron, they begin to furnish hot air to the distributer almost as soon as the fire in the grate or fireplace is under way. It will be noted also that narrow intervals or draftspaces are provided between the pipes and between the latter and the rear wall of the fireplace. rThese spaces furnish ample room for draft, and the smoke, hot gases, and other products of combustion pass around them and in contact with their entire surface. The distributer and end boxes, on the other hand, are of cast-iron, which absorbs heat more slowly, but retains it longer, and being placed in the middle of the line it is heated onl all sides as well as by the hot air coming from the pipes. I make the distributing-pipe 14 of less diameter than the intake 2, my object being to hold the entering volume of air in the heating-tubes until it acquires as high a temperature as possible, its expansion causing it to iiow slowly through the thin wroughtiron pipes, thereby taking up far more heat than it could if it owed at a higher speed. When the distributer has acquired its maximum heat from both exterior and interior sources, the air entering it from the heater pipes will be raised to the highest temperature possible, considering the condition of the fire in the grate, and it will pass through the distributing-pipes to the points where its heat is utilized without any great reduction. Suitable registers and valves will be provided at these points to control the volume of air entering.

Water is supplied to the trough or reservoir 5, which may communicate at each end The side boxes are fitted over each end of the receiver, and their upper ends are fitted into the ends of the distributer, which have a downward projection. All the heater-pipes are inserted at their upper ends into short thimbles 24: on the lower face of the distributer, and their lower ends areset on and around nipples 25 on the upper face of the receiver, the construction being similar to that described in connection with the pipes 18. They can all be readily removed by slipping them into the distributer far enough to enable their lower ends to be unseated from the nipples 25.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an air-heater for open fireplaces, or grates, the combination with a receivingchamber beneath and partly behind the gratebars, of a distributer in the upper partof the fireplace, heating-pipes of thin wrought-iron connecting said receiver and distributer, and a central series of heating-pipes transverse to the others, their ends opening into central projections on the receiver and distributer, su bstantially as described.

2. In an air-heater for open iireplaces and grates, the combination with a receiver lying` beneath and partly behind the grate-bars, of a distributer in the upper part of the fireplace, side boxes consisting of tubular sections connected by recessed webs, the upper ends of said sections inclining rearwardly and entering hanging couplings on the end of the distributer, and their lower ends communicating with the ends of the receiver, and a series of heating-pipes arranged along the rear of the fireplace and having a forward inclination, their upper ends entering thimbles on the distribu ter and their lower ends seating around nipples on the receiver, substantially as described.

3. In an air-heater for open fireplaces, or grates, the combination with a receiver arranged beneath the grate-bars and having a trough or water-reservoir along its front side, communicating at its ends with larger reservoirs in the ends of the receiver, of a distributer in the upper part of the fireplace, heating-pipes arranged along the back and connecting the receiver and distributer, and a central transverse row of pipes communicating with central projections on the front of said receiver and distributer, one of which pipes is capable of, displacement to enable the water-supply to be renewed, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDGAR FULTON CROWTHER. Witnesses:

H. M. MARSHALL, E. L. BRIEN.

IOO 

